Phu Quoc night market: An island paradise for foodaholics in Vietnam

The most well-known dish made from the palmyra palm tree is steamed sponge cakes made from palmyra sap and flesh. supplied/vns

Phu Quoc night market: An island paradise for foodaholics in Vietnam

Fri, 26 April 2019

WHILE the restaurants of Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam are a delight with their wide range of fresh seafood, no trip to the Kien Giang province locality would be complete without sampling street food at the night market at the heart of Duong Dong Town.

The night market houses numerous food stalls that don’t have a glossy appearance like restaurants, but impress tourists with the scent of grilled food, the beautiful colours of desserts and the hawker’s unique cooking techniques.

Inside the shells, there is just a little soft meat which has creamy yellow colour, which is rich in protein.

The breeding season of sea urchins is between March and June, which is also the best time to visit Phu Quoc.

The chefs cut sea urchins in half, stir chopped green onions with grease from pork fat and grill them over hot charcoal. When the dish is almost done, they top it with small pieces of roasted peanuts. It’s best served with salt and black pepper mixed with lemon, or mustard.

While sea urchins bring me to the precipice of heaven, the other delicacies at Phu Quoc night market kick the door in and thrust me into ecstasy.

The islanders are good at presenting the food and don’t need to call customers, instead just drawing in people by the eye-catching displays of beautiful food.

Grilled with spring onions and roasted peanuts, sea urchins are a delicacy of fishermen in the region. Nguyen Luan/vns

The quail eggs grilled in porcelain bowls are among most the beloved specialities of the market. Each bowl contains three to five fresh eggs, topped with grease, cheese, spring onions and fried onions.

It is grilled until the egg whites turn opaque, a little bit burned on the edge while the yolk is still liquid and shiny.

The tamarind sauce makes the dish special, with the sweet and sour of the sauce mixing with the fatty taste of eggs and greasy cheese.

Phu Quoc is also home to palmyra palm trees, so many specialities made from the tree originate from here. You can try palmyra juice and palmyra sweet soup.

The most well-known dish from palmyra is steamed sponge cakes made from palmyra sap and flesh.

The quail eggs grilled in porcelain bowls are one of the most beloved specialities of the market. Tieu Anh/vns

As a combination of botanical ingredients like palmyra fruit, cane sugar, rice flour and tapioca starch, the dish is healthy and light.

The delicious cake can be a dessert or starter or a snack.

A street stand selling kẹo chi (thread sweets) always attracts people, who surround it to admire the sellers making this dessert.

The sugar is spun skillfully until it becomes threads. The threads are placed between two layers of rice pancakes, added with shredded coconut and fruit syrup or coconut milk.

Once threads, the dish takes a long time to melt, so you can take your snack for a stroll to discover the rest of the market. Viet Nam News/ANN

Username *

Password *

MOST VIEWED

It is no secret that real estate prices in Sihanoukville have been on the rise over the last few years due to the influx of Chinese nationals.
Their arrival has brought investment in the real estate, construction, hotel and casino sectors, as well as small

The Phnom Penh municipal Military Police on Sunday raided four massage parlours in Por Sen Chey district and detained 29 suspects for questioning over their alleged involvement in prostitution.
Deputy municipal Military Police commander Pu Davy on Monday said the four massage parlours were located near

Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Thursday that all 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member states will receive warrants for the arrest of Sam Rainsy. The warrants have already been sent to Laos and Thailand.
He was speaking at a joint press conference at

Ticket sales to the Angkor temples are down. An Angkor Enterprise report has revealed that ticket sales to the Angkor Archaeological Park dropped by more than 11 per cent from the same period last year.
Prime Minister Hun Sen isn’t concerned. He told journalists that